Cabrera was arrested in February after a St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office deputy spotted his disabled Land Rover on the side of the road.

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According to the arrest report, when the deputy approached Cabrera, the ballplayer smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and then started drinking from a bottle of James Buchanan's Scotch whiskey in front of the deputy.

The report said when the deputy asked Cabrera who was with him, Cabrera replied, "I am going to (expletive) kill him." But the deputy said there was nobody else in the vehicle.

Cabrera then got out of the vehicle, put his hands up and wandered into the road, the report stated.

The deputy asked Cabrera to get into the cruiser several times, but Cabrera refused and kept saying, "Do you know who I am? You don't know anything about my problems."

Cabrera's attorney, Michael Kessler, released a statement saying that he and his client "have great faith in the justice and fairness of the court system," but they decided to enter a plea so as to not prolong the criminal proceedings.

Kessler said they had planned to go to trial, but a late discovery by the prosecution jeopardized their trial date, so they negotiated a settlement.

"This late disclosure put into jeopardy our scheduled Monday trial date," Kessler said. "Miguel Cabrera is determined not to allow this to go on any further. He wants this behind him before the start of spring training. For that reason, and for that reason only, Miguel Cabrera asked me to settle this case today."

As part of the plea deal, Cabrera will serve one year of probation, must perform 50 hours of community service and will have his driver's license suspended for six months. The probation won't interfere with Cabrera's baseball career, and he is eligible to have it terminated after six months.

Cabrera has played for the Tigers since 2008. The six-time All-Star selection also played for the Florida Marlins from 2003 to 2007.